The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets

The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets is a 2015 reference work edited by food scholar Darra Goldstein. It was released by Oxford University Press as part of the Oxford Companions series. The book contains a foreword by anthropologist Sidney Mintz.

The book gives a cultural history of sugar and sweets from a range of perspectives, including those of chemists, academics, food writers and confectioners. It is made up of almost 600 entries written by 265 contributors, arranged alphabetically from à la Mode to zuppa inglese. Entries cover topics from specific items, such as pies or lollipops, to broad cultural themes, covering for instance the presence of sweets in children's literature. Although much of the content covered is whimsical, entries also emphasize unpleasant themes in the sugar industry including obesity and poor labor conditions.

The book was released to wide praise. Several reviewers highlighted the breadth and depth of coverage, and the inclusion of many intriguing historical curiosities was singled out as making the book engaging to a broad audience. The work's treatment of political themes was generally praised, with the exception of food writer Paul Levy, who felt it was emphasized at the expense of other content. In 2016, the book was nominated for the James Beard Foundation Award in the category "Reference and Scholarship", and was described by Library Journal as the most popular reference work of the previous year.